Don's Compassionate Caregiver Blog

End of National Alzheimer's Awareness Month

Being the end of National Alzheimer's Awareness Month, it's important for us to look at some of the ramifications of this disease on the people taking care of our dementia loved ones. In California alone there are 1.8 million households taking care of someone 50+, about 16% of the population. This percentage will increase in the next 10 to 20 years as the baby boomer generation ages.

The majority of people needing care from loss of memory and cognitive abilities, about 65%, rely exclusively on family and friends to take care of them. Too often just one person is doing most of the caregiving alone. It is virtually impossible for one caregiver to be responsible 24/7 for all of the needs of a dementia person and properly take care of themselves as well. Any caregiver must have a good support team around them to be able to provide the best care possible and help them get some respite time for themselves.

The Alzheimer's Association is one of the best organizations available to help caregivers build a support team. They offer many free educational events to raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease and the many services  they offer to families. Most of know someone who is a caregiver. Take a few minutes and help your caregiver friend or family member contact the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org., if they haven't done so already, and get the support team they need for everyone involved.

Are your aging parents safe in their home

The holiday season is upon us and the trip home is a great opportunity to check in on both the physical and mental health of our aging parents. The holidays are first and foremost about family, about sharing the lifetime of experiences that all started with our parents providing a loving and safe environment for us. For many of us, now might be the time we need to help our aging parents make sure they too are still safe at home.

Remember that the main key to assessing both the mental and physical health of your parents is simply observation. Obviously, you will be asking them how everything is going in their life, but observation will tell you if their answers correlate with what you see in and around their home. The following are a few of the main topics you will want to observe regarding the safety of your parents. Please go to our website at forgetmenotflowerclub.com for a complete checklist of items you should be looking for.

Home Safety  - example  Are mail and bills piling up

Self Care -  example   Have they lost weight?

Mood - example  Are they still connecting with friends?

Mobility - example  Does your parent need a cane or walker?

Travel safe and have an enjoyable Thanksgiving!

 

Power of Flowers

We took care of over 50 people in the 12 years of running my board and care, but the one that probably had the biggest impact on us was a woman I'll call Clara, for privacy sake. Clara was depressed ans angry from the effects that Alzheimer's disease was having on her cognitive abilities and subsequent loss of independence. She was often verbally abusive to my caregivers and to me, no matter how much compassionate care we tried to bestow on her.

Clara's daughter started bring fresh cut flowers to my caregiver employees, to show her appreciation for them dealing with her mother's difficult behavior. I observed first-hand the profound positive effect that the fresh cut flowers had not only on my caregivers,but also on Clara and our other residents.The caregivers told me they liked the flowers both for their natural beauty and also because of the show of appreciation for their work.

I often used the flowers to redirect Clara's negative moods, sitting her in front of them with some cookies and milk, telling her that her daughter had brought them for her and she would bring her more flowers tomorrow if she'd be nice. It worked more times than not. We have had fresh cut flowers in our home ever since.

Alzheimer's awareness month

November is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month. For the past year and a half I have volunteered at the Alzheimer's Association, in addition to spending a considerable amount of time studying and researching the causes and effects of the disease as well as the needs of caregivers. We recently had two Memory Walks of over three hundred participants each for our local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, their annual fund and awareness raising events.

After helping set up canopies, tables, chairs, etc.,I grabbed a water and initiated a conversation with a gentleman named Doug, who was getting a water for his 3 year-old granddaughter, Kristy. I asked Doug what brought him to the Memory Walk event. He replied," we're here to support our dear friend, Jen. Her husband Lee has Alzheimer's, he was a good friend."  I said" You know Doug, Lee still is a good friend of yours, he just can't express it the same way because of his disease. Visit him when you get a chance and take Kristy with you. I bet he's love to watch her play."  Doug replied, " You're right. I'll absolutely do that."

For all of our dementia family and friend loved ones, please remember we all need to help them maintain their personhood as long as possible. They all love human companionship, in whatever form we can give it to them. I'll expand on this concept in future blogs.

Welcome to Don's Compassionate Caregiver Blog

Welcome to Don's Compassionate Caregiver blog! This endeavor represents a new phase in the personal and professional commitment I made to myself 14 years ago, to try my best to help the dementia residents and their families that came to my care home. I started Camarillo Care Home in 1996, a 6-bed care facility specializing in dementia care. I was the owner/administrator and a caregiver, operating on a 24/7 basis out of my home for over 12 years. During this incredible journey through dementialand, as I call it, I learned a lot of important life lessons in how to make the best of the difficult life changes brought on by Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The most important lesson is that of taking care of the caregivers, so they in turn can provide the best care for those in their charge.

The Forget Me Not Flower Club is a result of the research I did from the impact of flowers I has seen first-hand. It turns out both Harvard and Rutgers universities did scientific studies a few yesrs ago and proved the emotional and physical benefits of having fresh cut flowers in the home, decreasing anxiety and depression and increasing compassion. The gift of flowers has a profound impact on both the recipient and the giver.

The other important component of the Forget Me Not Flower Club is providing useful information for the caregiver community. Caregiving is both a physically and demanding job, I know, and we will do our best to provide you with resources and pactical information to help minimize the draining effect that caregiving can have on your day-to-day life. We can't do it alone; we need all the help we can get. Don's Compassionate Caregiver blog is our ongoing conversation and connection with you. We look forward to serving you and becoming part of your community.